Working together to address sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Brown ◽  
Heather Millman ◽  
Bethany Easterbrook ◽  
Alexandra Heber ◽  
Rosemary Park ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Sexual Misconduct ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Canadian Armed Forces ◽  
Military Members ◽  
Physical Health Problems ◽  
Working Together ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Military

LAY SUMMARY In 2015, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) implemented Operation HONOUR to eliminate sexual misconduct (SM) in the military. Sexual assault, inappropriate sexual behaviours, sexual harassment, and gender discrimination are all types of SM. Experiencing SM can result in depression, substance abuse, physical health problems, and even posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Despite Operation HONOUR, SM still happens in the CAF. At this time, many groups are working together to address SM and to support those who have experienced SM. Canadian-based researchers, policymakers, military members, Veterans, and clinicians are collaborating to identify new approaches to training, culture change, research, and treatment relating to SM in the CAF. The end goal of working together is to minimize SM in the CAF and ensure the health and safety of all CAF members and Veterans.

If You Cannot Beat Them, Why Not Have Them Join Up?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Hall
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Canadian Armed Forces ◽  
Emotional Appeal ◽  
Military Members ◽  
Mainstream Society ◽  
The Military

This paper explores the plausibility of a rather novel solution to the problem of domestic terrorist threats: might the risk posed by individuals from communities that are thought to be prone to acts of political violence and terrorism be mitigated by recruiting to the military members of communities that public and political discourse has deemed a fifth pillar? The military presents a stable, well-paying career to individuals marginalized by their ethno-religious identity that have to this point been grossly under-represented in the Canadian Armed Forces. It can also bring members of these communities into a closer relationship with the state and mainstream society that will foster allegiance, combat alienation, and stifle the desire to commit violence against Canada and its citizens. Two implications follow for the Canadian Armed Forces from the explanation of the Toronto 18 as a non-peaceful node of an identity-based network. One is that the institution should be cautious not to fall into the trap of a populist vernacular reification of identity that might inadvertently further the community’s collective alienation by overtly appealing to “Arabs” or “Muslims”. The other is that the military may do well to focus on the equality of treatment within their institution rather than material benefits when attempting to extend an olive branch to Canada’s marginalized communities, instead making an emotional appeal based on the common good.

A gender-based analysis of recruitment and retention in the Canadian Army Reserve

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéfanie von Hlatky ◽  
Bibi Imre-Millei
Keyword(s):  
Community Outreach ◽  
Sexual Misconduct ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Army Reserve ◽  
Recruitment And Retention ◽  
Canadian Army ◽  
Canadian Armed Forces ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
The Military ◽  
Training Opportunities

LAY SUMMARY In this qualitative study, 29 members of the Canadian Army Reserve were interviewed to investigate Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) recruitment and retention strategies. Studying member attitudes and participation in recruitment and retention led to original insights about the importance of community outreach, peer recruiting, and commitment on behalf of leadership when it comes to fostering a recruitment-focused culture. Participants pointed to camaraderie and the quality of training opportunities as significant considerations to improve retention, providing further validation to existing research on retention in reserve units. Using a gender-based lens, reservists were asked about the culture of the CAF, sexual misconduct, and other issues facing under-represented groups. Participants felt the military was doing well meeting recruiting targets and that representation and mentorship were important tools to encourage women and members of under-represented groups to join. The answers regarding sexual misconduct were extremely consistent: most were surprised when hearing Reserve Force statistics on sexual misconduct, and many displayed low awareness of how to report incidents. Nevertheless, participants thought their units were better than others when it came to equity, diversity, inclusion, and preventing sexual violence, signaling these topics could be further examined in the reserves.

scholarly journals Locating Feminist Progress in Professional Military Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-41
Author(s):  
Vanessa Brown
Keyword(s):  
Social Transformation ◽  
Transformational Change ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Military Education ◽  
Cultural Learning ◽  
Military Students ◽  
Professional Military Education ◽  
Canadian Armed Forces ◽  
Military Members ◽  
The Military

A continuing debate in feminist scholarship on gender, security, and the military has been whether militaries can facilitate feminist progress and be forces for good. Feminists committed to working outside of militaries note that gender perspectives have often been used to advance the military’s goals of winning wars rather than commitments to feminist social transformation of military institutions and societies. However, influences from international normative frameworks on Women, Peace and Security; Canada’s feminist foreign policy; and an emphasis on diversity and inclusion within Canada’s Defence Policy have presented the Canadian Armed Forces with a solid platform from which it has begun to make change. The central tenets of this broad feminist platform have begun to permeate Canadian Professional Military Education (PME) through the collective efforts of educators, staff, and military students at Canada’s defence colleges. Drawing on a review of policy and programmes as well as a qualitative analysis of interviews with educators, staff, and military students, the article demonstrates that feminist transformational change by military members is possible by exploring its nascent reality. The article highlights the challenges and benefits of incorporating feminist perspectives in Canadian PME and demonstrates how and under what conditions military graduates with this education have begun to apply gender and cultural learning to make local feminist interventions both within and outside their institution. Ultimately, this research shows that collective efforts toward localized and incremental changes by military members are paving the way for meaningful feminist progress within the military.

scholarly journals Missing the Point: A Critical Reflection on Operation HONOUR and Reactions to Military Sexual Misconduct by Veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-87
Author(s):  
Walter Callaghan
Keyword(s):  
Culture Change ◽  
Sexual Misconduct ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Military Culture ◽  
Canadian Armed Forces ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Willful Blindness ◽  
Sexist Beliefs ◽  
The Military

While there has undoubtedly been progress made in regards to the inclusion of women and LGBTQ+ individuals as full members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), it is questionable as to whether the organizational culture has shifted since these efforts were initiated almost thirty years ago. This article argues that resistance to culture change is based in sexist beliefs and attitudes, which are most noticeable in discussions related to Operation HONOUR, the CAF initiative meant to purposefully change military culture in an effort to eliminate sexual misconduct. The article critically reflects on how the CAF has presented results from surveys aimed at examining the beliefs and perceptions of current serving members in regards to sexual misconduct in the military. It argues that the CAF is missing key points of analysis, particularly in failing to identify and analyse the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours that make up a problematic and misogynistic military culture. To address this, the article presents a taxonomy of sexism to help understand the attitudes of soldiers and veterans. Based on this taxonomy and informed by long-term and ongoing ethnographic research, the article then outlines a spectrum of behavioural archetypes, namely: (1) allyship to victims, (2) willful blindness to the prevalence of and harms caused by military sexual misconduct, and (3) a negative and misogynistic response tied to what has been termed as toxic masculinity. Understanding these behaviours and their embeddedness in veterans’ self-perceptions and the military’s culture is key to achieving CAF culture change in the context of systemic sexual misconduct.

Are Military and Medical Ethics Necessarily Incompatible? A Canadian Case Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 639-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christiane Rochon ◽  
Bryn Williams-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Medical Ethics ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Codes Of Ethics ◽  
Core Values ◽  
Dual Loyalty ◽  
Canadian Armed Forces ◽  
Military Institution ◽  
The Military ◽  
Military Physicians

Military physicians are often perceived to be in a position of ‘dual loyalty’ because they have responsibilities towards their patients but also towards their employer, the military institution. Further, they have to ascribe to and are bound by two distinct codes of ethics (i.e., medical and military), each with its own set of values and duties, that could at first glance be considered to be very different or even incompatible. How, then, can military physicians reconcile these two codes of ethics and their distinct professional/institutional values, and assume their responsibilities towards both their patients and the military institution? To clarify this situation, and to show how such a reconciliation might be possible, we compared the history and content of two national professional codes of ethics: the Defence Ethics of the Canadian Armed Forces and the Code of Ethics of the Canadian Medical Association. Interestingly, even if the medical code is more focused on duties and responsibility while the military code is more focused on core values and is supported by a comprehensive ethical training program, they also have many elements in common. Further, both are based on the same core values of loyalty and integrity, and they are broad in scope but are relatively flexible in application. While there are still important sources of tension between and limits within these two codes of ethics, there are fewer differences than may appear at first glance because the core values and principles of military and medical ethics are not so different.

scholarly journals The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members' experience with social services in the military: an exploratory study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felisha K. Khan
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Utilization Of Services ◽  
Perceived Need ◽  
Canadian Armed Forces ◽  
Regular Force ◽  
The Military ◽  
Depth Interviews

The aim of this study was to critically explore the strengths, limitations, barriers and gaps in social services within the CAF in relation to delivery, access and uptake of social services while employed in the CAF. The study provided CAF members an opportunity to express their thoughts, ideas and opinions based on their lived experiences, and to explore creative responses and solutions to issues members face with social services in the CAF. Presented are the findings from data collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with recently released CAF members. Themes that emerged from the research captured the lived experiences of the participants and were related to: differences between components (Regular Force vs. Reserve Force), perceived need and its effect on utilization of services, significant improvements in services post 9/11 and Afghanistan, organizational and systemic influence, impact of service providers, and better promotion of social services to the greater CAF community.

Sex and gender: More than just demographic variables

2021 ◽  
pp. e20210027
Author(s):  
Callaghan Walter
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Canadian Armed Forces ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Published Research ◽  
Health And Well Being

LAY SUMMARY Taking as a starting point that sex and gender are not the same thing, a principal understanding of Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+), this article reviews research published in 2020 on the health and well-being of Veterans and currently serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces. The purpose of this review was to see how sex and gender were referred to in this published literature. The published research tended not to differentiate between sex and gender, often using the two terms as though they referred to the same thing. Possible reasons for why this has happened are explored, as is the importance of treating sex and gender as fundamentally different things.

Military profile rises but coup is unlikely in Brazil

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Military Members ◽  
Senior Officers ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Military

Subject The political role of the armed forces. Significance The armed forces have recently assumed an unusually high political profile. The current government has appointed generals to high-level positions and ordered a large-scale intervention led by the army in Rio de Janeiro state security institutions. These measures, many of them unprecedented, are an attempt by President Michel Temer to boost his popularity as a ‘tough-on-crime’ leader. The armed forces are one of the few public institutions enjoying high levels of trust among Brazilians. Impacts Despite recent protest calls for a military coup, support for such a move is restricted to a radical minority. Resistance against further reliance on the military for domestic law enforcement will rise, including among senior officers. Bolsonaro will focus his message on crime, promising to bring more military members into his cabinet, including the Education Ministry.

scholarly journals Mapping Trends in Pedagogical Approaches and Learning Technologies: Perspectives from the Canadian, International, and Military Education Contexts

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-147
Author(s):  
Grazia Scoppio ◽  
Leigha Covell
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Postsecondary Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Military Education ◽  
Learning Technologies ◽  
Canadian Armed Forces ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
The Military ◽  
Pedagogical Approaches

Increased technological advances, coupled with new learners’ needs, have created new realities for higher education contexts. This study explored and mapped trends in pedagogical approaches and learning technologies in postsecondary education and identified how these innovations are affecting teaching and learning practices in higher education settings, particularly for the Canadian Armed Forces education system. A qualitative research methodology was employed including a comprehensive review of Canadian and international literature, an environmental scan of Canadian Armed Forces educational institutions, and consultations with experts and practitioners in the field of military education. The research findings shed light on trends in pedagogies and learning technologies in higher education as well as on the presence of these trends in the military educational system. In addition, the findings consider the necessity for a corresponding level of preparedness to meet the needs of diverse learners in the future. This study informs both the field of higher education and the field of military education.   

scholarly journals ACTUAL PROBLEMS OF GENDER EQUALITY IN THE SECURITY AND DEFENSE SECTOR

2019 ◽  
pp. 149-151
Author(s):  
Ye. V. Kovalenko ◽  
O. V. Pletnov
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Security Model ◽  
Gender Policy ◽  
Social Modernization ◽  
Post Industrial ◽  
The Military ◽  
Gender Strategies

Affirmation of gender equality is one of the aspects of the mankind development process which can be compared by value and closely connected to the global democratization tendency. At the post-industrial stage, the development of men and women equality becomes one of the main aspects of social modernization. The essence of democracy is providing people with rights, the organization of the governmental state on the principle of social contract between equal individuals, who must have the same opportunities for making independent and responsible decisions. Therefore, gender equality is a rather sensitive indicator of the development level of a country. In the system of world renewal and reform, Ukraine tends to integrate into the Euro-Atlantic security model and create a civil society on a modern basis. Such an approach implies the obligation to define clear state gender strategies and the development of an appropriate state gender policy. One of the important aspects of ensuring equal and stable social development with the application of the most effective methods of state intervention is the introduction of the gender approach in the security and defense sector of Ukraine, which becomes a purposeful, systemic and multidirectional governmental activity. It should be noticed that gender policy in this area should be understood as the progress of militaryservice regardless of gender: equality in the perspectives of such service, rights and responsibilities. A new stage of active public assistance in the development of gender policy in the field of security and defense began in 2018 and is still ongoing. Many significant steps have been taken in gender equality in the army and in the fight against gender discrimination. But at the same time, it should be mentioned that today there are some problems in providing gender policy in the military spher; and solving and overcoming of such problems will contribute to increasing the efficiency of the functioning and development of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as the positive implementation of the state gender policy in the context of European choice of Ukraine in the context of its world and European integration.

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